Working towards rebuilding the homes and communities destroyed in the 2020 Mountain View Fire

100 percent of properties have completed the debris clean up stage; nearly 17 percent of cleared properties returned to county officials to begin reconstruction

SACRAMENTO – The remains of 2020 wildfire survivors’ homes and property — burned metal, concrete, ash and contaminated soil — have now been cleared from 100 percent of the properties in Mono County enrolled in California’s statewide Consolidated Debris Removal Program.

Final inspection reports for more than 16 percent of the 105 participating properties in the county have been sent to local officials.  The remaining 84 percent of the properties in the county need at least one of the following critical elements of the program completed before being returned to county officials:  approval of soil samples by a state-certified laboratory; erosion control measures; the removal of hazardous trees; and/or final walkthrough and sign-off.

In 2020, over 8,000 climate-induced wildfires burned 4.2 million acres of California, destroying more than 5,700 homes. Property owners incur no direct costs for participation in the state-managed clean up and recovery program, administered by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) in collaboration with 25 participating counties.

Major Clearing Work: 84.6 Percent Complete

Wildfire survivors had the option to either use their own contractor or enroll in the state-managed program. Of the 5,991 properties statewide with damage from the 2020 fires, 3,773 signed up to have the remains of their homes and other structures cleared by the state.

As of May 21, 2021, state-managed crews cleared burned metal, concrete, ash and contaminated soil from all 102 properties in the county participating in the full state debris removal program.

Steps	County	Properties	Percentage
STRUCTURAL DEBRIS REMOVED	Mono	102	100%
BACK TO COUNTY FOR FINAL APPROVAL	Mono	17	16.2%

Steps Left to Complete

Before homeowners can begin rebuilding, cleared properties need additional work including:

• Separate contractors collect soil samples for verification at a state certified laboratory that they meet state environmental health and safety standards.
• Contractors next may install erosion control measures.
• Certified arborists or professional foresters assess wildfire-damaged trees in danger of falling on the public or public infrastructure for removal by separate contractors.
• Finally, state officials inspect the property to verify all completed work meets state standards. Debris officials submit a final inspection report to local officials to approve the property for reconstruction.

So far, 22 properties in the county have gone through the entire post-debris removal steps of soil testing, erosion control, and removal of fire-damaged trees in danger of falling on public infrastructure before being returned to the county to begin reconstruction. Seventeen properties in the county have cleared the entire process.

LET THE REBUILDING BEGIN!

Property owners can track the above data on the Debris Operations Dashboard for the 2020 statewide wildfires. The dashboard is updated every hour and provides users with the ability to search by county or address.

* Data as of 5/20/21 at 8:00 a.m.